Amaunet
by Lady Harlequin
Summary: *EPISODE 4 UP* Amaunet Mitchell thought that she was just an ordinary girl...until she was brought to Togenkyo. There, she must travel alongside the Sanzo-ikkou to save the world and to find the truth about herself...
1. Prologue: The Legend of the Ogdoad and t...

Amaunet 

_By: Lady Harlequin_

_A "Gensomaden Saiyuki" Fic_

DISCLAIMER: Gensomaden Saiyuki is NOT mine, and never will be!! I'm just borrowing the characters and some of the plot so I can have some fun. The characters will be returned when I am through. Those who say otherwise shall be whacked with Sanzo's Paper Fan of Doom.

NOTES: There is a whole slew of Egyptian mythology in here, and maybe some other mythologies tossed in for good measure. I researched these babies, and they can all be found in a magnificent book entitled "The Friendly Guide to Mythology" by Nancy Hathaway. If you can find this book, then please, do pick it up and read it. It makes for a very interesting tome, and has produced a lot of ideas for most of my fics, this one included ^_^. And I mess around quite a bit with the Egyptian creation myth, particularly the members of the Ogdoad, so I hope no one gets mad at me for playing around with them ^^;.

PAIRING: ? x Amaunet Mitchell x ? (heheh, you guys guess ^_^)

MY MARY-SUE DILEMMA: Okay, I have realized, after writing a lot of fan fics, that I tend to write Mary Sues. This fanfic is an attempt to avoid that sort of character. I try to give Amaunet her own set of faults, and she doesn't become endeared to everyone in the Sanzo-ikkou right away. Hopefully Amaunet will become a well-rounded character and not cross the line into the Land of Mary Sue ^_^. 

EMAIL: ladyharley2002@hotmail.com

SUMMARY: Amaunet Mitchell, daughter of world-famous archaeologist Edward Mitchell (a Briton) and museum curator Shelie Arkanensis-Mitchell (an Egyptian), always believed that she had a wonderful life. After all, being born the daughter of an archaeologist and museum curator DID have its perks. A born linguist, she mastered the complicated Egyptian hieroglyphics and other such languages both of the ancient and modern worlds, and had quickly become an invaluable aid to her parents. But she never knew that she was meant for more than just translating ancient texts…that she was, in fact, the reincarnation of the most powerful and beautiful goddess in the Egyptian pantheon…

Prologue: The Legend of the Ogdoad and the Fate of Amaunet 

Every nation, every civilization, has its own tales and variations on the creation of the world. Egyptian mythology, in particular, has quite an interesting tale to tell.

According to the ancient myths, the eight gods and goddesses known as the Ogdoad created the watery abyss that would eventually become the world as we know it. The gods were named Kuk, Huh, Amun, and Nun, while the goddesses, their sisters, were known as Kauket, Hauhet, Amaunet, and Naunet. After creating the watery abyss, the god Amun, the most powerful of the gods of the Ogdoad, then created the rest of the world. He was eventually immortalized in the Egyptian pantheon as the god Amun-Ra, god of the sun and the Supreme Deity.

When the other, non-Ogdoad gods took power Amun gave a special duty to his brothers and sisters: to govern and decide the fates of all men and gods save himself. This duty they accepted willingly, but only one did not. And that was Amun's sister, Amaunet.

The myths vary on why Amaunet turned down the offer of her brother. There are myths that say she did not want to rule in a world that was not created by her own hands, for Amaunet believed herself to be powerful enough to be the supreme goddess of any world she should so choose. She was the foremost among all the members of the Ogdoad. It was she who first created the watery abyss. And she believed that it was she who should rule this new world that they had created. But she loved her brother, even though he had, supposedly, usurped her role as the Supreme Deity, and so she simply turned down his offer to govern the fates of men and gods like the other members of the Ogdoad. 

Other myths tell a different story. These myths agree with the others only in the fact that Amaunet was the foremost and therefore the most powerful of all the members of the Ogdoad. In fact, it was through her sheer power that the watery abyss came about. However, in creating the platform for the rest of the universe she became severely weakened, and desired no longer the power to rule over the fates of gods and men.

These myths all end in the same way: with Amaunet becoming a mortal because she was wearied from her duties as a goddess (which would concur with the second myth idea). They also agree with the fact that at first, Amun her brother did not want her to do so, and forbade her from doing such a thing. Amaunet then threatened to destroy the new world with her powers (which concurs with the first myth idea) unless Amun let her go. Faced with watching his new world blow up or merely letting his sister have his way, he went for the latter. Amaunet chose a place in the fabric of time, and entered that place to be reborn as a mortal.

However, there was just one catch, or so the myths say: when Amaunet became mortal, that placed her under the jurisdiction of the Ogdoad. They had to decide her fate for her. And they gave her one that wasn't exactly what one would call peaceful…

*   *   *

"Ama! Ama, come down already! Dinner's served!"

Amaunet Mitchell sighed as she snapped her book shut, and called, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She bounded down the stairs to the dining room, where she found her parents sitting down at the table for dinner.

She turned to her father then. "How was the dig, Dad?"

Edward Mitchell, world-famous archaeologist, smiled at his only daughter. "Quite well Ama, quite well. We've found a new side-chamber, and the hieroglyphs seem to reveal an entirely new part of the Legend of the Ogdoad."

Amaunet grinned. "Ooh, more info on my namesake!"

Shelie Arkanensis-Mitchell, museum curator at the National Museum of Egypt, shook her head. "It surprises me that you would have such great interest in that particular legend."

"You named me after the most powerful goddess of the Ogdoad, so don't be surprised. It's like…trying to find one's heritage, I guess. The name is a part of me, so I think it's like trying to find a piece of myself," Amaunet explained.

Edward laughed. "Sometimes I cannot help but wonder if you are more of a philosopher than anything else! My dear, there is not a lot of room for philosophy in archaeology."

"I know, but remember, I'm planning to be more involved in the translation of glyphs and in the interpretation of the legends. Going to the digs is fun sometimes, but my home is in the libraries and with the thick codices and crumbly scrolls."

"What are you reading now," Shelie asked as she passed the dish of lamb chops.

Amaunet reached for the plate, and placed two pieces of lamb chop on her plate, along with a generous portion of gravy and mashed potatoes. "The Rig Veda. It's an English translation, but I'll get around to the Sanskrit one when I'm through with the English version."

Edward nodded. "Do you think you could lay it off for a while?"

Amaunet glanced at her father. "Why Dad?"

"I want to show you the glyphs at the new side-chamber." He winked. "And I want to establish your credibility as a translator."

Amaunet giggled. "Okay, I'll take a crack at the glyphs tomorrow."

*   *   *

Edward glanced at his daughter, a small smile of pride flitting on his face. They were currently standing in a tent just outside the new dig site, which was located some twenty miles from the Valley of the Kings. Research had proven that they had uncovered a little-known temple that was dedicated to the worship of the Ogdoad, the pre-Egyptian pantheon gods and goddesses who created the base of what would eventually become the world – according to Egyptian creation mythology, that is. In fact, one of them, Amun, eventually became the Supreme Deity Amun-Ra, who was revered above all the other gods of the Egyptians.

The Ogdoad had always intrigued Edward. There was always just too little research done that looked into them, and the ancient Egyptians didn't really seem to care about them much, preferring to write about their other gods like Osiris and Horus and Isis and Bastet. The missing pages of Egyptian mythology concerning the Ogdoad were the ones that Edward wanted to find, and this was his big chance.

Amaunet was carefully tying her jet-black hair into a thick braid, and then winding it into a bun at the base of her head. After doing so, she secured a few more buckles on her boots, which hid the true, dainty shape of her feet. She turned to her father then, blue eyes twinkling merrily in the tempered desert sun. "I'm ready."

"Let's go then," Edward replied with a grin as he handed his daughter a strong waterproof flashlight. He put his own on a hook that hung from his belt, and added also a length of rope and a grappling hook. _One never knows, _he told himself as he and Amaunet headed out into the sandy desert.

A wind was starting to pick up, he covered his face with a piece of cloth of prevent inhaling any sand. He gestured to Amaunet, who did the same. The others who were working on the dig – mostly graduate students from Cambridge and Oxford – were scurrying around, trying to tie down anything that might blow away, or anything that might be adversely affected by the sand.

One of the students, George Kirkpatrick – more affectionately known among his fellow grad students and Amaunet as Al (from "alien") because his skills with the computer were so extraordinary as to have come from an extraterrestrial source – was rushing up to them, his precious laptop wrapped thickly in rough linen. His eyes twinkled with the smile that was hidden beneath his facemask. "A good morning to you, Doctor, and same to you, Ama."

Ama giggled, and waved a hand in greeting. "Hullo Al. Looks like there's a storm kicking up, eh?"

Al sighed, and nodded. "Got that right. Doing all we can to make sure the sand doesn't get into any of the electronics. Last thing we need right now is for the computers to go on the fritz. Not when we're so close to making a new discovery, right Doctor?"

Edward laughed, and nodded. "True, George. We wouldn't want anything to go wrong, not when we're very close to getting to the heart of the mystery of the Ogdoad."

"And not when we're so close to finding out just what is up with Amaunet's namesake," Al added, which earned him a non-too-gentle jab in the ribs from Amaunet. 

"I don't know whether I should consider that a compliment or an insult, but for the meantime, I will consider it an insult," Amaunet said.

Al frowned; rubbing the sore spot in his ribs with one free hand while the other clutched his laptop. "I don't think I deserved that…"

"You did. That was just payback for dunking me in the oasis last time."

Edward laughed, remembering that story. It had happened during one of Amaunet's first trips to the dig site. He didn't really know why, but it seemed that camels and his daughter just didn't mix. She was practically chased by one for quite sometime. And then Al came to her "rescue": he picked her up and tossed her into the shallow oasis nearby. After that, the camels left her alone. However, Amaunet never let Al forget about it, and so she tried to get back at him as many times as she could.

"Are you going down to the new chamber, Doctor?" Al asked then.

"Yes George, I am. I want to let Ama have a look at the hieroglyphics," Edward replied.

Al stared at them for a while, before nodding. "Alright Doctor, you go on ahead. Just be careful in there, all right? The sandstorm might loosen something in there."

"Yes, I understand. Thank you for the warning, George." With that, Al trotted off towards the safety of the tents.

Amaunet turned to him then. "Are you sure we should go on ahead, Dad? You heard what Al said…something might loosen in there. Who knows, we might find ourselves trapped."

Edward shook his head. "Do not worry about it, Ama. The side-chamber isn't that far from the entrance. And what is more, the main hall is wide; we have enough space for running should anything happen." He winked. "Wouldn't that be an adventure, Ama? Like the Indiana Jones movies…"

Amaunet laughed. She loved watching the old Indiana Jones movies as much as her own father did. "Yeah, I know… Well anyway, why don't we go in now? The storm's just going to cover us head to toe in sand if we don't get a move on."

Edward laughed. That was another thing he liked about his daughter: her well-timed, if occasionally incisive, bouts of practicality that struck at any hour. "Yes, yes, you're right. Come on, let's go." The two of them ran the remaining distance between the tents and the entrance to the temple, the sand swirling behind them like an ephemeral Arabian slave dancer.

*   *   *

CLICK!!

Amaunet listened to the sound as it echoed off the bare walls of the desolate temple, magnified several times over. _That sound is spectacularly creepy…_ She had watched "The Mummy" movies over a dozen times already, and although it was fun to point out the rather silly historical discrepancies ("Scorpion King? Since when was Egypt invaded by one?"), the chill factor of having an actual mummy walking around freaked her out. And the fact that these winding hallways reminded her of the city where the original Mummy was found made her skin crawl.

_I truly am not made for this, _she thought as she followed her father deeper into the freshly excavated corridors. _I belong in a musty library, with books by the stacks at all sides. I don't belong here. I really, REALLY do not belong here. _

"Ama? Are you okay?"

Amaunet turned to her father, and grinned, nodding. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just taking a look at these paintings over here…"

Her father came over then, and shone his light on the walls. He smiled. "Yes, they are rather unusual, aren't they?"

_Unusual doesn't justify them, _Amaunet thought as she shone her light over the figures painted onto the wall. The mural depicted a set of half-human, half-animal figures, which was quite traditional of ancient Egyptian art. There were four snake-headed women, and four frog-headed men. Though to most Westerners this was strange and reeked of all things Satanic, Amaunet and her father knew that this was REAL ancient Egyptian art. What was portrayed on the wall before them was the Ogdoad…as the ancient Egyptians perceived them.

"Incredible," Amaunet whispered, wanting to touch the painting, but afraid to do so, because she felt that the paint would flake and she would end up damaging the mural. "We've read written descriptions of the Ogdoad…but never have we found any art actually DEPICTING them…"

Her father nodded. "Which makes this site all the more special. It would seem that there was a small sect, a very select group of people, who worshipped the Ogdoad themselves." He smiled slightly at her. "And it would seem that our knowledge of the Myth of the Ogdoad is incomplete."

Amaunet raised her eyebrow as she and her father continued walking towards the recently discovered side-chamber. "What do you mean?"

"I found some scrolls in the side-chamber," her father explained, "and I tried to read a few of them, as best as my knowledge of hieroglyphics will allow. And I found out that the Ogdoad were not just the creators of the watery abyss from which the universe sprang. It is they who control the fates of not just mortals, but of gods as well."

Amaunet stopped dead in her tracks. _What? _"Then they were like the three Moirae – Klotho, Lachesis, and Atropos – in Greek mythology. They were like the three Norns – Urd, Verdandi, and Sculd – in Norse mythology." She shook her head slowly. "I didn't think that Egyptian mythology would also have the concept of the Fates."

Her father sighed. "I did not think so either, until we found this place." 

They were now standing at the doorway of the newly discovered side-chamber. Amaunet cast the beam of her flashlight into the interior, and pierced the shadows to uncover a series of murals on the opposite side. Drawn as if by a mysterious force, Amaunet stepped over the threshold, her eyes focused on the murals.

The moment her feet were planted on the stone floor of the chamber, it happened. A loud rumbling sound filled her ears, and the ground quaked violently beneath her. 

_What the-_ She turned around, trying to find her father, but he was nowhere to be seen. A thick cloud of dust had surrounded her, making her unable to see too much around her. 

"DAD!!! DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" Amaunet screamed as she whirled around in the dust cloud in a vain attempt to find something, ANYTHING, that looked vaguely liked her father. In her haste, however, she tripped on something, and that something sent her sprawling to the ground. As she did so, she knocked her head against something hard, and lost consciousness.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, that was good ^_^. If anyone out there knows the REAL story of the Ogdoad, I hope you guys will be able to forgive me. I just wanted to play around with it and see where it would bring me ^_^. Also, my version of the Legend of the Ogdoad is not entirely true. I only took the names and the situation, and added more to suit what I wanted to do for this fic. So if anyone thinks that my version is the true one, sorry to bust your bubble, but it isn't. If you want to use my version in a fic, you're more than likely going to have to ask my permission.


	2. Episode One: When Girls Fall From the Sk...

Episode One: When Girls Fall from the Sky 

Son Goku grinned as he munched on a peach. _Damn, but these monks sure know how to take care of their fruit trees! These are the BEST peaches I've ever tasted in my life!!! _

Suddenly, a violent wind rustled through the leaves of the tree, making Goku sit up straight. _Eh? What's that? What's going on here? _

It didn't take long for him to get his answer. The wind picked up, blowing harder, almost like it intended to topple the tree. And then, suddenly, a figure appeared in the middle of the air, hanging suspended for a moment in time. Goku stared at the figure, eyes wide, until it finally obeyed the laws of gravity and started falling – right towards him.

_Yipes!! _Knowing that there was no way he would be able to avoid the falling object, he decided to do the next best thing – catch it. He held out his arms, and carefully balanced himself on the tree branch, anticipating the fall of the figure into his arms. It did, and he swayed on the branch a little before stabilizing again. This was when he decided to take a peek at what exactly this figure was.

Goku's eyes widened in amazement. _By the gods… It's a girl!! But…but what the HECK is she doing here?! And why did she fall out of the sky like that?! _

Knowing that it wouldn't do him any good to just stand there, he jumped down from the tree, still holding the girl in his arms. _Now what the hell am I supposed to do? _

"Looks like you found her." 

Goku nearly jumped, and turned around to face Genjo Sanzo, the monk who had managed to break his five-hundred-year imprisonment. He grinned sheepishly. "Ehehehe…well, looks like I did."

Sanzo nodded, his face still as serious as ever. "Here, let me take her."

Goku nodded as he let Genjo do the carrying – his arms were beginning to ache. "Oi, Sanzo, do you know who she is? You sounded like you were expecting her."

"I was," Sanzo replied as he headed towards the interior of the temple. 

"Then what for?"

"It's got something to do with our trip."

Goku stopped. _What? That little slip of a girl has something to do with our TRIP? _Sanzo had told him that the two of them would meet up with their old companions Sha Gojyo and Cho Hakkai to go on a journey ordered upon them by the gods. They were supposed to go to the West, and find out the reason why demons all over Togenkyo were acting weird. 

_But it's going to be a dangerous journey, _Goku thought as he followed Sanzo further and further into the temple, his curiosity about the girl not yet sated. _And he's planning to bring that girl along?! Doesn't he know that that's going to be a high-risk venture?! And with Gojyo around…who knows what he might do to the poor thing!! _

A slow grin suffused on his face. _On the other hand, if she can cook decently enough then I say that Sanzo bring her along! And I'll take it upon myself to make sure that Gojyo doesn't pull any stunts on her. _

When he finally caught up with Sanzo the monk was laying the girl down on a futon, and slowly covering her up with a blanket. "Sanzo, could you PLEASE explain to me what you've got for that girl? This is the first time I've seen you act like that around an example of the feminine species…" He grinned. "Maybe Gojyo's womanizing ways are starting to rub off on you, eh?"

Sanzo glared at him, and replied, "Keep your nose out of things that have nothing to do with you."

"Oh, this HAS something to do with me," Goku replied with a grin as he walked over to the girl lying on the futon, and knelt. "You told me that she was coming with us on our journey. Knowing you, you wouldn't do anything of the sort unless you REALLY had to. And I'm willing to bet my dinner that the gods told you something about this girl. What exactly was it? And why would we need her for our journey?"

Sanzo sighed, and stared at the sleeping girl. He was silent for a long, long while. And finally, just when Goku was ready to get up and raid the kitchen, he spoke, "This girl…Fate has something in it for her. I don't really know what exactly, since they didn't bother to tell me, but all I know is that it was Fate that she should come with us. If we don't bring her along, she'll follow somehow, in one way or another… Might as well save ourselves the trouble and bring her with us."

"Do you know her name?"

The monk nodded. "Hai. Her name is Amaunet."

Goku blinked. _Ama-what?! That's some weird name…_ "That's a mouthful right there, Sanzo. Could you say that again, please?"

"Ah-mau-net," Sanzo said, pronouncing the syllables slowly for Goku to understand. "It is a strange name in a strange language, where she is from. Whatever the case may be, it means 'hidden power'. I don't know why she would have a name like that, but it should mean something… I just don't know what."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about this girl, Sanzo," Goku said solemnly, which was quite unusual for him. It was such a change for him to have Sanzo say, "I don't know" a couple of times in one day. He usually said that only once, and only when he was really pissed off. But today, there was nothing in his voice to indicate that he was pissed off at anything or anyone. He plainly and simply did not know.

Goku sighed, and sat down, this time crossing his legs. "Then what are we going to do? You know what Gojyo's going to do the minute he finds out we're bringing a girl with us… And believe me, this one's rather pretty. Gojyo's going to hit on her till she gives in."

"I'll ask Hakkai to take care of her," Sanzo answered quietly. "At least I can trust HIM instead of Gojyo."

Goku blinked. _Hey, wait a minute…_ "Does that mean you don't trust me?"

"Hai. You're too immature."

"Hey, that wasn't nice!!!" Goku yelled. 

Sanzo glared at him. "Shut up!!! If you keep on shouting like that you're going to wake her up!!!"

"So what?! You WANT her to wake up, don't you?!"

"Hai, but not to the sound of your screaming!!"

"Hey, you're screaming yourself, oh not-really-high-and-mighty monk!!!"

"Oooooohhhh…"

*   *   *

Amaunet groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness – and felt the pain. 

_Oh God, it hurts…it really hurts… _She hadn't experienced such pain in all her life, which was amazing considering the fact that she had been in several rather painful situations that included having a tooth pulled out without anesthetic and getting her thumb hit with a hammer.

But none of them compared to the pain she was feeling now. It seemed to shoot up from every part of her body, all of them converging in her head. And all of that pain made thinking even more difficult than normal.

She thought she heard voices, while swimming in and out of consciousness, and it was those voices that had encouraged her to come back to the world of the living. She opened her eyes slowly, slowly, trying to blink back the sunlight that was streaming through her eyelids.

"She's waking up…"

"Well if that isn't obvious, I don't know what is."

BAM!!!

Amaunet opened her eyes more fully now, taking in what she could of her surroundings. She realized that she was lying on the floor, though on top of a mattress-like thing, and that she had been kindly covered up with a blanket. _Huh? Where am I? _

Two faces came into focus then. One was of a not-so-young man with blonde hair and purple eyes, while the other was of a boy with dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Amaunet blinked up at them. _Who the hell are they? _

Memory came crashing down on her with the force of a tsunami. She remembered that there was a cave-in, and that she and her father and been separated… _And these guys sure as hell don't look like they're a search-and-rescue team…and neither are they any of the grad students…_

Amaunet sat up almost immediately, clutching the blanket close as if it would shield her from all harm. She inched away from the two men, who were now staring at her as if she were a really weird person. "Who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here?"

The blonde-haired man sighed, and stood up slowly, approaching her with carefully measured steps. "We do not intend to harm you. Please calm down."

"Calm down my derriere! I knock myself out in a cave-in, and the next thing I know I'm in some room with not one, but TWO males, and heaven knows what has happened while I was out cold!" Amaunet exclaimed.

The blonde-haired man halted just two steps away from her. "If you worry about your chastity, I can assure you that you have not been touched. You are in a temple, under my care. I have made sure that no one has intended to harm you."

"Who are you then?"

The man bowed. "I am Genjo Sanzo." He glanced at his brown-haired companion. "And that is Son Goku."

Silence reigned for a while, then Sanzo said, "When you have calmed down sufficiently, I would like to speak with you for a moment." He moved away from her, and gestured towards a table, where there seemed to be some clothes laid out. "Those are for your use. When you are ready, I wish to speak with you."

Amaunet watched as Sanzo walked out of the room, followed closely by Son Goku, who started talking about wanting some food. When the door slid shut, Amaunet let out a soft sigh. _Well at the very least I know who those two people are. _

She stood up slowly, so as not to send the world spinning violently again. She let the blanket drop, revealing that she was still wearing the safari outfit she had donned when she and her father had entered the temple. Her belt, boots, and hat, however, were not there anymore. Looking around, she found her boots standing near the door, while her belt and hat were lying beside the clothes that Sanzo had said were for her use.

She knew the moment she woke up that she wasn't in Egypt anymore. _How could I have gotten out of the temple so quickly? And to a place that reeks with Sino-Asian influences, _she wondered as she slowly stripped off her clothes, folded them, and put on the clothes, which turned out to be a set of kimono. The cloth was of blue silk, which felt somewhat cool and comforting after the heat of the Sahara, replete with small, embroidered peach blossoms in gold thread. The obi, on the other hand, was black, run through with silver threads. It was a rather expensive outfit, and Amaunet had to wonder where these monks – if she were indeed in a temple – found it and for what purpose did they use it.

Finding a set of combs laid out nearby, as well as a small round mirror, Amaunet knelt as best as her kimonos would allow and combed her hair until all the tangles had been worked out. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she began to debate with herself whether she should put her hair up into the usual braided bun, or to just leave it hanging around her shoulders. After a while, she decided to just leave it alone, pushing back her hair behind her ears instead. 

She padded across the mats on the floor towards the door, opening it. She found a pair of pretty black-lacquered slippers with black-lacquered leather thongs waiting for her. She just HAD to smile. "Charming, charming," she told herself as she stepped into the slippers. They were a bit small for her, but she didn't mind. _Well at the very least these people are hospitable to strangers. _The last thing she wanted was for these people to kick her out…not when she didn't have any answers yet.

She walked down the hallway, her slippers making a soft tip-tapping sound against the wooden floorboards. The scent of incense pervaded the air, and in the distance, she could hear the soft chanting of monks, their voices a soft throb in her ears. Just outside, she could hear the wind rustling the leaves of some tree, and making a chime tinkle lightly. It was such a great change from what she was used to in Cairo and at the dig sites that Amaunet just had to stop in the middle of the hall and listen, smell and look. 

"I'm sorry to say this, but you look a little ridiculous standing in the middle of the hallway."

Amaunet jerked out of her thoughts, and turned to the source of the sound. She saw Goku leaning against the wall, a few bun-like things in his hand. She sighed, and relaxed. "Jeez, don't do that to me, please? I don't like it when people startle me out of my wits."

Goku laughed, and grinned. "Gomen nasai. But really, you looked rather silly standing there the way you were a moment ago. I was thinking you could see something I couldn't."

Amaunet giggled softly. "Yeah, I guess I did. It's just that…I'm not really used to all of this. I'm more used to noise, not peace and quiet."

"That's what we get a lot of around here, peace and quiet," Goku remarked. "Sometimes it's so quiet that it's boring." He took a bite out of one of the bread buns, and asked, his mouth still full, "So, where were you going?"

"I was going to see Sanzo. Do you know where he is right now?"

Goku nodded. "Hai." He pointed down the hall ahead of them. "Walk that way, and turn left at the first chance you get. He'll be in the room four doors down, on the right side."

Amaunet smiled. "Thank you, Goku." With that, she set off, following Goku's directions.

*   *   *

Sanzo heard her slippers as they slapped against the floorboards, indicating that she was heading towards him at that moment. He stared at the door, patiently waiting for her to make her appearance.

He didn't have to wait long. The door slid open, and in stepped the girl, Amaunet.

Sanzo let a small smile appear on his face when he saw her. _She looks much better now. _She was wearing a blue kimono instead of those brown-colored clothes she had appeared in, bringing out the strange blueness of her eyes.

Those blue eyes gleamed back at him like sapphires in the fading afternoon light, stayed on his face as she knelt down in front of him across the low table.

Her voice when she spoke had a somewhat deeper timbre than the one he was accustomed to hearing among women. "You've got a lot of questions to answer, Sanzo."

Sanzo maintained an emotionless face, gazing back at her, meeting her eyes head-on. He smirked. "What do you want to know?"

"Where am I, for one, and how did I get here?"

Sanzo was silent for a moment, thinking of a proper answer. _How to tell her that she came falling out of the sky and that she has a mission to fulfill…? _He tipped a teapot over a small porcelain cup, the fragrant scent of jasmine filling the air. He pushed the tea towards his guest. 

Amaunet stared at the cup, then at him, and back at the tea. Then finally, she reached out, curving unusually large-looking hands around the cup. 

Sanzo observed everything about her. Her hands were slim and the fingers were elegantly tapered, but the veins underneath the skin were distinct. That could only mean she was accustomed to doing menial labor, and knew what it meant to work one's bones to breaking underneath a sweltering sun.

Deciding that it would now be an appropriate time to answer her inquiries, Sanzo said, "You are in the world of Togenkyo, where demons and humans coexist, and where magic is real." He smirked. "Quite unlike your own world, if I may say so."

Amaunet eyed him then, her blue eyes seeming to crackle with energy. He couldn't really place what emotions she was having at the moment…fear, certainly. Rage, maybe. Frustration, perhaps. Annoyance…yes, it was definitely there.

When she spoke, her voice was calm, though her eyes said it all, "What are you talking about? Are you trying to tell me that THIS place, Togenkyo, as you call it, is another world ENTIRELY?"

"Precisely."

She was silent for a long time, and then she barked out a laugh. "Hah, yeah right!! Now I know that I've found myself in some loony bin. Come on, tell me how to get out of here and I'll be more than happy to catch the next flight out to Cairo."

Sanzo smirked. "Do you think you can return to your world so easily? It's not as simple as 'catching a flight', as you so put it. You're here for a reason, and you're going to fulfill that mission, whether you like it or not."

"Are you trying to tell me what I can do and what I can't? Cause if you are, you're going to be in a lot of trouble." Her voice was like ice now, and so were her eyes. They flashed fire at him, cold fire, and he swore he could see twin ice-blue flames dancing behind her irises.

But he felt no fear. Genjo Sanzo had faced worse things than an angry gaijin, and he wasn't about to give in to this one. _Iie, definitely not this one. _"Hai, I am. Because if you want to live long enough to actually go back to wherever it is you came from, then you're going to listen to me and do as I tell you."

Her eyes narrowed, and Sanzo knew that she was angry. However, she maintained an outward calm as she stood up slowly. "You think you can get away with ordering me around?" she asked quietly, though the edge in her voice had sharpened so much that she could literally cut through steel with her words alone. She turned on her heel, her back to him, blue silk flying around her frame. "Over my dead body."

CLICK!!!

Sanzo cocked his gun, the sound making Amaunet freeze in mid-step, her hand poised to open the door in front of her. "Over your dead body, eh? I can arrange for that, you know…"

She slowly turned back to him, the anger flaring into her eyes until it was a raging inferno. "How dare you?!" she snarled. "Who gave you the authority to tell me what I should and should not do?!"

"There are a lot of things you don't understand, Amaunet, and I'm willing to explain all of them to you…only if you will pay attention," Sanzo said calmly as could be, even when faced with the wrath of this girl – not that was a lot. He had the weapon, thus he was in control.

"You just lost whatever credibility you had when you told me that I was in another world," Amaunet said pointedly, her words spiked with an acidity that Sanzo found a little surprising, especially in a girl her age. "You could just be another wacko kidnapper who's telling me all these weird stories so that I will be forced to do whatever you want. Pardon me for busting your bubble, but I'm not as stupid as you think."

"If you aren't as stupid as you presume yourself to be, then shut the hell up and sit down before I decide you're not worth the trouble of helping out and put a bullet through your head," Sanzo growled, waving his free hand towards the table again.

Her irises were ice now as she stared at him, barely able to keep her wrath in check. For a short moment in time, Sanzo had to wonder what she could do if she were thoroughly enraged, especially considering what the gods had told him about her supposed past life. But he shrugged it off like he always did. _If anything happens, I can always shoot her first. _

When Amaunet was settled down in front of the table, Sanzo took his seat across from her, keeping the gun in plain view as a reminder. "Now, are you going to listen?"

Amaunet gave him a forced nod in reply.

"Good. Now, as I told you, you aren't in your own world anymore. This world is called Togenkyo, and here, demons and humans live together. It has been quite peaceful for a time, until recently. A strange wave of evil energy has been flowing all around Togenkyo, and this has been causing the demons to go berserk. Save for those who wear limiters on their bodies, all other demons succumb to this evil wave and begin eating humans.

"I have been told that the only way to solve this problem is to go to the West, seek out its source, and destroy it there."

Amaunet raised an eyebrow at him then, something that, Sanzo realized, would annoy him to no end. "O…kay. Now what have I got to do with all of this?"

"The gods have told me that you must come along. They took you from your world and brought you here so that you could help us." _Much as I don't like the idea._

"Help? What help? If you're looking for someone who can translate almost all the little-used and dead languages in the world – or my world, at least - then you've come to the right person. But otherwise, there's nothing much I can do."

Sanzo frowned. _Damn it, then that means she can't fight. _He figured as much, given the way she looked and the way she spoke – he could tell a scholar from a warrior even from ten feet away – and he knew that she was going to be useless in combat. "If you're worried about your safety, you just have to stick close to me and my other companions for the journey. Does that solve the security problem?"

Amaunet nodded slightly in response. "Yeah, I guess so. But still, what have I got to do with this entire thing? You mentioned something about gods…what do they want with me?"

Sanzo turned away from her, taking his gun with him. He glared at her. "If you so much as make a move for the door, I swear I will shoot you in the foot and make sure that you don't walk again."

The fire in her eyes kindled once more, but she stayed put.

Sanzo turned his gaze away from her, though he could sense her every movement. He reached into a nearby chest, and pulled out two objects. These objects he placed on the table in front of Amaunet. He eyed her seriously. "Do you know what these are?"

For a long time, Amaunet was speechless. She stared and stared at the objects that were presented to her. Getting impatient, Sanzo raised his gun lazily so that it was pointing at her. "Do you or do you not know what these objects are?"

There was no anger in Amaunet's voice. There was only pure, undisguised amazement. "Yes…yes I do." She picked up one of the objects. It was a piece of gold in the shape of a cross with a loop above the crossbar instead of a straight piece of gold. "This is what is called an ankh, the symbol of eternal life in the belief of the ancient Egyptians. Only royalty and the gods were allowed to hold these ornaments."

"What about this other one?" Sanzo asked, gesturing to the other object with his gun.

Amaunet put down the ankh, and picked up the other artifact, holding it with utmost reverence. "This is a representation of the Eye of Horus, probably from the twelfth, thirteenth dynasty. Gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and ivory…yes, the most precious materials the ancient Egyptians had ever known. The Eye of Horus was a special talisman, said to be able to give protection from all forms of evil."

Sanzo nodded slowly, absorbing everything that she had told him about the artifacts. "Hmph." He picked the two objects up, and put them away in the chest. "These artifacts are, in some way, connected to you. Or at least, that's what the gods said. You seemed to recognize them, at any rate." 

"Where did you find them?"

Sanzo turned back to her. "Nani?"

Amaunet repeated her question. "Where did you find them?"

"In some ruins far to the southwest." He realized then that Amaunet's desire to reach those ruins was going to be her driving force. He smirked. _Finally, I've got something to use as leverage. _"I can take you to those ruins, Amaunet…but only if you come with me and my companions."

Her eyes narrowed to slits again. "So we're resorting to blackmail now, eh? What dirty, underhanded trick will you use next?"

"I'll do anything as long as it suits my purposes," Sanzo replied without even blinking. "As I said, the only way you can get back home is if you do what I say. You won't get to those ruins if you don't obey me."

Amaunet glared fiercely at him for a long, long while, but Sanzo knew that he would win. In the end, she huffed, and her shoulders slumped. "Fine, fine, we'll do it YOUR way. But once we get to those ruins, I'm jumping ship and I'm going to find a way to get myself home – with or without your help."

Sanzo smirked. _I'd sure like to see you try getting home without our help. _"Suit yourself."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Um, was that "Sanzo-ish" enough? I'm kind of frightened of going the way of OOC, especially for this dude. And what about Ama? Is she too Mary Sue-ish? She and Sanzo seem to really hate each other though… As if Goku and Gojyo weren't enough… Hehe, I'm so nasty to poor Sanzo-sama ^_^. Anyway, on with the story!!!


	3. Episode Two: The Beginning of a Journey

Episode Two: The Beginning of a Journey 

Amaunet woke up to the feeling of someone gripping her by her shoulders and shaking her awake. Thinking that it was her mother, she moaned, and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head. "Five more minutes Mum, I want my sleep…I NEED my sleep…"

The quaking stopped, and Amaunet thought that she was finally going to get the rest she both needed and wanted. But, instead of being left alone, it was only aggravated by someone yanking the blankets off her, exposing her to the cold air.

Amaunet yelped, and opened her eyes. "Bloody hell, who was that?! I'm going to throttle you the minute I lay my hands on you…"

"Do that and I shoot you."

Amaunet turned, and her lips hardened into a thin grim line when she saw just WHO had woken her up. "Oh. You."

Sanzo smirked as he picked up the blanket that had fallen onto the floor, balled it up, and tossed it at her. "Get dressed and pack your things, if you have any. We're going to meet Hakkai and Gojyo when you're ready."

Amaunet was about to ask just WHO were these people – Hakkai and Gojyo – but Sanzo had already left the room. _All the better,_ she thought to herself as she got up, and proceeded to make the bed. _I would've probably strangled him if he stayed any longer, gun or no gun. _

She knew that the kimonos they had provided her with would be completely useless out in the wilds, so she looked for her safari gear. She found them in a nearby trunk, freshly washed and neatly folded. She put these on quickly, and as she stared at herself in the full-length mirror, she felt a stab of homesickness hit her square in the gut.

She was truly her parents' child. She had the physique, features, and hair of her mother, but as for her eyes, she would always have the same sapphire depths that her father possessed. She looked at her face, and saw her mother. She looked at her eyes, and saw her father.

Amaunet shook her head, swallowing against the lump in her throat. _I wonder what's happened to them, _she thought as she packed up the few belongings she had in the backpack that had somehow gotten transported with her when she came into this world. _What happened to Dad? Did he make it out alive from the cave-in? Or did he…did he…_ This time, the tears REALLY spilled from her eyes, and Amaunet choked a little as the sob came through.

_I really MUST go back home. I can't just stand around here doing nothing. I have to get back home and find out if Dad made it out okay. _With this thought in mind, she snatched up her backpack, and made her way out of the temple to the front courtyard, where she saw Goku and Sanzo waiting.

Sanzo glanced at her then. "And about time you came out."

Amaunet stared at the monk for a while, taking in his outfit. After a moment, she burst into fits of laughter so loud that it echoed all throughout the monastery compound.

Sanzo's eyes narrowed to dangerous proportions, and he gritted out, "What _ is _ so _ funny?"

Amaunet snorted, trying to keep her laughter in check, then gasped, "You…your outfit…the-the robes…the cro-crown…the v-veil…" a giggle, "you…you look like…a Virgin Mary statue!!! You…you look like a…a…A FEMALE SAINT!!!!" With that, the laughter exploded from her again, and she doubled over, clutching her stomach with both her arms, trying to soothe the ache that resulted from too much laughing.

Sanzo's eyes narrowed almost completely, and he reached for his trusty weapon – the deadly Paper Fan of Doom.

WHACK!!!

"OWWWW!!!!!!" Amaunet rubbed the sore spot on her head where the stiff paper had made contact, and glared at Sanzo. "DAMMIT SANZO, I AM GOING TO GET YOU SOMEDAY FOR THIS YOU BLOODY BASTARD!!!!!"

Goku stared at Sanzo in disbelief as the monk started walking away. "Kami-sama…he hit you, he actually HIT YOU!!!"

Amaunet gave a "humph" as she straightened her backpack, and proceeded to follow in the direction Sanzo was walking. "That monk is going to get his bloody due someday, I swear…"

"Ganbatte on that," Goku remarked with a sigh and a shrug. "No one has been able to get their revenge on Genjo Sanzo."

"Great. Then I'll get him back so good that it'll go down in the history books and no one will ever forget it," Amaunet growled.

Sanzo turned to her then, purple eyes flaming. "Anything more out of you and this time I'll REALLY shoot you."

Amaunet glared back at him, but kept silent. _Damn you, Genjo Sanzo. Damn you to hell. You're going to pay, you're SOOO going to pay…_

"I still can't believe he actually hit you," Goku said in quiet amazement as they continued walking.

Amaunet glanced at him, toning her voice down so that Sanzo wouldn't hear. "What's so surprising about that? Doesn't the old grouch do that to everyone?"

Goku snickered quietly at the words "old grouch", but replied, "Not to everyone, just to me and Gojyo. So it surprised me that he'd hit YOU. He doesn't hit women, not even those who annoy him. He only threatens them with his gun. He won't hurt them physically, though."

Amaunet rolled her eyes. "And here I was hoping that chivalry wasn't dead," she muttered as the two fell silent again.

They were passing through a forest now, and Amaunet was glad for her waterproof all-terrain boots, since the path was littered with damp leaves and it would be easy to slip and fall. 

"How old are you, Ama?" Goku asked then, his eyes wide and curious.

Amaunet blinked, surprised at the use of her nickname by this still-strange boy. "Me? I'm seventeen going on eighteen soon."

Goku grinned. "Honto ni? So you're still pretty young then!!"

Amaunet laughed, appreciating the easygoing nature of her companion. "I wouldn't really consider myself young… Where I'm from, once you hit eighteen, you're considered to be an adult! To be honest, I was actually handling a grown-up's job by the time I was sixteen. I was working as a decoder for my parents in Cairo."

"Decoder?"

"Someone who reads the old texts and hieroglyphs and translates them into words that can be understood by everyone else," Amaunet explained. "It's a very tedious job, but I like doing it. It gives me a sense of power, that all these people come to me just because I can read something they can't."

Goku grinned broadly, and nodded. "Hai, you're right. Wow, that seems like a very interesting job! I haven't heard of anyone who does that around here…" Just then, he stopped walking, and sniffed the air.

_Eh? What's going on? _"Goku, what's the matter?"

Goku sniffed the air again. "Something smells wrong," he said quietly. "Oi Sanzo, I think we've got company."

The monk uttered a curse under his breath. "I thought so." He turned to Amaunet, and waved her over towards a secluded part of the clearing. "Stay there, Amaunet, and DON'T MOVE, no matter what the circumstance. If anything gets near you just scream. Don't even get it into your head to try and fight back."

Amaunet glared at the monk. "Hey, I may be weak, but I'm not totally defenseless!"

Goku shook his head, looking at her pleadingly. "Onegai Ama, he's right! These demons are something you can't handle. For once, listen to what he says!"

Amaunet stared at Goku, and nodded wordlessly, obeying what Sanzo had told her earlier. The monk shot her a glare, and then turned his scathing gaze to Goku before pulling out his gun.

The shrieks tore through the air, inhumanely loud and high-pitched. Amaunet found herself cringing and covering her ears when she heard it. She looked up towards the clearing, where Sanzo and Goku were, and watched as they were attacked.

Amaunet had never seen such…beings before in her entire life. They resembled the wild men she had often read about in those books her father sometimes lent to her, or those movies she watched about tribes of savages who lived more like beasts than men. But what stunned her most was the fact that these man-like creatures seemed to have claws that they could easily lengthen and retract – a characteristic that was only common in cats.

Immediately, Sanzo and Goku set to work. Goku produced a staff almost from out of nowhere, and this staff could lengthen or shorten itself according to Goku's purposes. _What the hell?! Where did he get THAT thing?! _She racked her brain for all the legends that involved staffs, and came up with…nothing. 

She hissed. _Damn, I wish I remembered what legend that belonged to…it could've helped me a lot in figuring out where I am. _

One of the creatures turned to her then, and her blood immediately turned to ice as she gazed at the eyes of the thing. She could see the bloodlust there, the hunger for human flesh. Never had she seen such eyes before. To this thing, she was just the next meal on the menu.

The creature bounded towards her, shrieking an unholy sound, claws at the ready to rip her head off her shoulders. Amaunet lifted her arms over her face, hoping that it would shield her from the attack that was sure to come onto her…

BANG!!!!

Amaunet jerked at the sound of the gunshot, and opened her eyes to watch her attacker disintegrate into dust. When the smoke had cleared, she saw Sanzo standing in front of her, his gun pointed at the spot where the demon had once been. _What the hell?! _

Sanzo glared at her momentarily before he started shooting down the remaining demons, while Goku dealt with the others with his staff. In the end, the clearing was filled with nothing but thin wisps of smoke where the demons had once been.

Goku came rushing up to her then, his face concerned. "Ama…daijobou ka?"

"Huh?" Amaunet glanced at Goku, and noticing the worry in his face, she smiled slightly, and nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess so. Nothing hurt, no broken bones…yeah, I'm fine."

Sanzo approached her then, and looked at her for a long time. "You're shaking," he stated.

Amaunet glared at him. "It's none of your business, Sanzo. Just a bad case of the nerves. I'm going to be alright." She shook her head, and felt a large tremor pass through her. _God, is THAT what happens around here all the time?! Demons just jumping out at you to kill? Are we going to be hounded like that for the rest of the trip?! _

Sanzo's eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded. "Good. That saves us a lot of trouble and time." He turned back to the path that led out of the clearing and deeper into the forest. "Let's go."

*   *   *

Goku walked beside Amaunet, for once quiet as he tried to take in the young woman who was going to be their traveling companion for the rest of this journey. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to get to know her, since they hadn't spoken for more than a few minutes the previous day when she had first arrived, but he sensed something…likeable about her. He could smell it on her, at any rate. Her clothes smelled like the desert, but she herself smelled like spices and incense and bright sunlight, and another scent that he couldn't identify…he was sure it was a kind of flower, but he couldn't tell which one. 

Another thing that connected them was their mutual dislike of Sanzo, which in Amaunet was a burning hatred that evinced itself whenever she glared at the monk and muttered insults under her breath. One particular moniker that Amaunet had attached to Sanzo was "senile old fool", and though Goku found it rather appropriate and funny, he knew he would NEVER be able to say that to Sanzo's face. _Of course, considering how Ama's acting right now, who knows for sure if she will be the first one to burst that in front of his face? _

He had never gotten over the difficulty of pronouncing her name, so he had resorted to calling her "Ama", a nickname he thought rather suited her. When he said it she gave him a soft, familiar smile, something that Goku had never received from anyone before. He found it strange that she would smile at him like that. Sanzo never smiled at him; Gojyo smiled only to insult him; and as for Hakkai…the guy smiled all the time, so what was the difference? Amaunet's smile made him feel special. It made him feel like he was actually SOMEONE, and not just "Saru" or "Bakasaru".

For the first time in all his life, he was actually worried about something aside from food. Amaunet had elicited feelings in him, protective feelings. Panic had been eating at his mind while he fought the demons back in the clearing, and it was mainly because he was worried for Amaunet's safety. He didn't want her to get hurt. He would do anything make sure she didn't get hurt…even if it meant having to give up his life to do it.

Just then, an ominously familiar scent hit him in the nostrils. He groaned. _Not again… _"Oi, Sanzo, we've got company again!!!"

Amaunet turned to him and Sanzo then. "Same things as last time?"

Sanzo nodded, and pointed to another relatively safe-looking clearing. "Go over there, and don't make a sound."

Amaunet glared at the monk, and turned to Goku. Goku nodded his head, telling her that she had to obey what Sanzo had said.

She had barely hidden herself when the demons came from out of nowhere. Goku jumped into the air. "NYOIBOU!!!!" he shouted, and his weapon flashed from thin air. This he used to beat the hell out of the demons that dared to get near him, lengthening and shortening the staff as necessary.

But in the midst of the pounding, howling, and banging (from Sanzo's gun), a sound suddenly carried over clear and true to Goku's ears: Amaunet's shouting.

His blood ran cold in his veins as he turned to watch Amaunet get grabbed by three demons at once.

To her credit, the girl was struggling valiantly against her captors, her blue eyes flashing fire like Goku had never seen and her mouth spitting out curses in a dozen different languages – or at least, Goku was SOMEWHAT sure they were curses. He only understood a few of them. 

But three demons trying to get at one girl is overkill, and Goku knew that he had to help her, or risk getting her killed. _And I sure don't want THAT to happen… _With a loud shout, he rushed headlong at the three demons, killing them all with one swipe of his Nyoibou.

He landed on the ground, and pushed Amaunet towards Sanzo. "Go, go Ama!"

Amaunet could only nod as she backed away until she was standing next to Sanzo. The monk wasn't looking very pleased now, though WHY Goku wasn't so sure. He didn't know if it was because they were suddenly surrounded on all sides by demons with no means of escape, or it was just his proximity to Amaunet.

Goku glanced at Amaunet from the corner of his eye, and noticed that she was bleeding. He grimaced. _Kuso…_ "Oi Ama, are you okay?"

The girl nodded, touching a few scratches on her arms. "I'll be fine," she replied. "Nothing too serious…" She grinned at him. "They're all far from my heart and my gut; I'll live."

Goku nodded back, and turned his full attention to the demons again, who were all salivating as they stared at Sanzo and Amaunet, particularly at Amaunet. He frowned as he gripped his Nyoibou tighter. _There is no way in hell they're going to get Ama…_

"Looks like we came just in time for the party."

Goku jerked at the familiar voice, and looked up. There, standing at the top of a somewhat high cliff, were Hakkai and Gojyo.

Gojyo smirked as he glanced at Amaunet, eyeing her from head to toe. "All these youkai going for one girl? Hey, that doesn't seem fair!" With that, he leaped down from the rock face, Hakkai following close behind him.

"Attacking innocent people is wrong, period," Hakkai said with a cheerful smile, Hakuryuu fluttering close over his shoulder.

"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu chirped, as if in agreement to the statement made by his master.

Goku grinned. "Hakkai! So glad to see you!! You and the perverted kappa came just in time!!!"  
  


Gojyo glared at him then. "Do you really want me to leave you to the mercy of these youkai, Saru?! Cause if you do, I can just take the girl and run to let you and the Worldly Monk deal with them!"

"Take me and I'll slap your brains out, pervert!" Amaunet growled from beside Goku.

Goku had to utter a chortle at that, but it immediately went away when the demons lunged at him and Sanzo. "Here they come!!! Hakkai, get Ama out of here!!"

Hakkai nodded, and in the blink of an eye, he was standing right beside Amaunet, who stared back at him with wide, surprised blue eyes. Hakkai smiled down reassuringly at her. "We'll get you out in a minute." He put his arms around her waist, and in another blink, he had her out of the circle of demons. 

Goku sighed, and smiled, relieved. _Now that Ama's out of harm's reach, I can get down to business. _

*   *   *

Amaunet stared at the tall man who was standing in front of her at the moment. _Is he one of the companions Sanzo and Goku were talking about? _She thought she heard Goku mention a name – Hakkai. If Goku knew this man's name, he was probably a friend. And for Ama, any friend of Goku's was someone who could be trusted. She couldn't say the same about Sanzo's friends, though.

The man smiled at her then. "Well, I suppose that we should find a safe place for you to wait while we finish our business here. Hakuryuu."

"Kyuu?" 

Amaunet glanced at the man's shoulder, and felt her eyes nearly pop right out of her head at the sight. There, just above the man's left shoulder, was a small white dragon with pretty ruby-like eyes. _Is that thing this guy's pet?! Whoa, INTERESTING choice of pet…_

"Hakuryuu," said the man, almost as if he were talking to a trusted friend, "take this girl someplace safe, away from the fighting." He turned to Amaunet this time. "Follow Hakuryuu, he'll bring you to a place where  you can rest and be safe from the demons. He'll stay with you so you won't get lonely, okay?"

Amaunet nodded wordlessly, and watched as the man went off in the opposite direction, towards the place where the sounds of fighting and gunshots was coming from. For a moment in time, she wondered if they were going to be okay. _Surely four people against all those demons isn't going to be enough! _

"Kyuu."

The quiet chirp of the white dragon called Amaunet's attention to it. The creature was fluttering just a foot away from her, its elegant, sinuous body turned towards a path in between the trees. Amaunet sighed, and grinned softly. "Hakuryuu, right?"

The dragon seemed almost to nod. "Kyuu."

"Well, since your master puts a lot of trust in you, and your master is friends with Goku, I guess I should trust you too. Lead the way."

The dragon uttered another musical chirp, and flew down the path, Amaunet following right behind him. It didn't take too long for them to get to a quieter clearing, with a little spring flowing right beside it.

Amaunet sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. She slumped down on the grass beside the spring, resting there for a moment. After a while, she started to feel stinging sensations up and down her arms, and realized, with a grimace, that her wounds were starting to hurt.

"Bloody demons…" she muttered as she inspected them. Many of them were quite long, though shallow, being caused by the claws of the demons when they grabbed her. In any case, they hurt like hell now that she was out of any immediate danger, and she had to clean them out soon or be at risk of an infection. 

She reached for the spring, carefully dipping her wounded hands into the water. She hissed at first due to the initial sting, but after a while relaxed as she cleansed her cuts of any dirt. She slowly splashed water on her arms, also cleaning the wounds that were there. A few that had started to dry opened up again, and the water that dripped off Amaunet's arms was tainted pink with her blood.

Amaunet sighed as she stared at her arms for a moment. _At any rate, I won't be needing any stitches… But my arms are going to be covered in bandages for a bloody long while until my wounds heal…_

"Kyuu."

Amaunet looked up at Hakuryuu, and noticed that his head was hovering just beside her cheek. "Huh?"

Hakuryuu chirped again, and this time, lightly licked Amaunet's cheek. 

Amaunet was stunned. "Wha? What the-" She felt a tingling sensation in her cheek, and then what felt like a tightening of the skin. She touched her cheek, and realized that she had gotten a small wound there, but, because of Hakuryuu's lick, the wound was gradually closing up, not even leaving a scar.

Hakuryuu seemed to almost smile at her. "Kyuu. Kyuu kyuu kyuu."

Amaunet giggled, and nodded. "Thanks, Hakuryuu."

"Kyuu." Hakuryuu approached her then, and curled up in her lap, folding his wings and tucking his head under them as if in sleep. "Kyuuuuuu…"

_Sleep…sounds like a good idea… _With this thought in mind, Amaunet leaned back against a nearby boulder, and slowly let her eyes drift shut in sleep.

*   *   *

Hakkai looked around satisfactorily. There were smoking piles where there were once demons, and he doubted if they were going to come around and trouble him and his companions. _See you in the underworld when I get there…_

Gojyo spoke up then. "Oi Sanzo, who was that girl you were with?"

Sanzo snorted. "Another annoying brat like the bakasaru over here. Her name is Amaunet. She's going to be coming with us for this journey."

Hakkai blinked. _Really? Does Sanzo really intend to bring her along? _"Sanzo, are you certain? Why would she want – need – to come with us?"

"She's supposed to help us," Sanzo muttered as he reloaded his gun, and hid it again inside his robes. "That's what the gods told me. Something to do with Fate."

Gojyo smirked. "I've got no problems with that. She's quite pretty. Golden skin and blue eyes…damn, now THAT'S what I call an exotic combination!!!"

"HENTAI KAPPA!!!" Goku roared suddenly. "Don't you DARE think about those things, especially about Ama!!! And Sanzo, you can get away with calling me a brat, but you have no right to call Ama that!!!"

Hakkai blinked with surprise. This was the first time he had seen Goku get so worked up about something besides food, and a girl at that. _This is odd… It would seem that Goku has some feelings for her – Amaunet._

Gojyo started laughing and nudging Goku in the ribs. "Oh ho, looks like the monkey's fallen IN LOVE!!!!!"

"I-I'm not in love!!!" Goku protested, though he DID turn an interesting shade of red, the sight of which only made Gojyo laugh harder and louder.

Hakkai sighed, and shook his head. _Those two will always be at each other's throats, and Sanzo after theirs, _he thought as he watched Sanzo whack the two on the head with his Paper Fan of Doom as a way of telling them to shut up. When everything had calmed down, Hakkai smiled, and said, "I think that we should go look for her now. I told Hakuryuu to bring her to a safe place and to stay with her until we finished up here."

Sanzo snorted, and nodded. "Let's get going then."

Hakkai grinned. "Hai." He walked at the head of their group, having a sense of where Hakuryuu was. They got to the clearing with the spring soon enough, and he looked upon a rather charming sight.

Amaunet was leaning against a rock, eyes closed, deep in sleep. Hakuryuu, in the meantime, was folded up in her lap, sleeping as well. 

Goku grinned broadly. "Kawaii…"

Hakkai had to admit to himself that yes, the sight WAS pretty charming. _It isn't everyday I get to see a young girl with a white dragon curled up in her lap… _"Hakuryuu."

Hakuryuu woke up then, uncurling himself from his position in Amaunet's lap. "Kyuu." He stretched his wings, and fluttered from Amaunet's lap to Hakkai's shoulder.

Hakkai scratched Hakuryuu underneath the chin. "Did you have a good rest?"

"Kyuu. Kyuu kyuu-yuu. Kyuu kyuu kyuuuu," Hakuryuu cheeped in response, making Hakkai smile in satisfaction.

In the meantime, Goku was bending over Amaunet's still-sleeping form, inspecting her wounds. "Looks like she took some time to clean them up," he muttered. "And most of them are starting to dry up." He gently shook Amaunet by the shoulders. "Ama, Ama, come on, wake up. We've got to go now."

Amaunet seemed to shake her head, and rolled over. "Me no like… Goku, just let me sleep…I need sleep…sleep…"

Sanzo snarled in irritation then, and strode over to the sleeping girl. He grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her hard. "Oi you little witch, you'd better wake up now or else."

No response from Amaunet. And then…

WHOOSH!!!!

_Oh dear, _Hakkai thought with a sweat drop as Sanzo managed to barely dodge the right-handed punch that should have caught him on the jaw. 

Amaunet spoke again, though she did not open her eyes at all. "Shut up you senile old fool. Just let me sleep in peace before I decide to go for more 'delicate' territory."

It took all of Gojyo's self-control to not burst out laughing. However, a few chortles still escaped him as he looked at Sanzo. "I don't believe it. She just called the High-and-Mighty Monk Genjo Sanzo a senile old fool!!! Damn, I'm starting to like that girl already!! Imagine having the guts to tell Sanzo the truth about himself…"  
  


BANG!!!!!

Gojyo froze where he stood as a bullet whizzed by his ear, singeing a few strands of his long red hair. "Na-nani?!"

Sanzo put away the still-smoking gun. "One more word out of your mouth, and I swear I will REALLY kill you."

"Maa, maa," Hakkai said, trying to placate his two companions. "Now is not the time to start a fight. And besides, we have to find a place to stay in before sundown."

Gojyo relaxed, and snorted. "Che. As long as we can get to a town soon. I want to drink some sake and see some women."

"And I'm hungry!" Goku piped up.

Hakkai still smiled. "Alright. Hakuryuu, transform."

"Kyuu!" There was a bright flash of light, and in Hakuryuu's place there stood a jeep. 

Hakkai got into the seat behind the steering wheel, while Sanzo took the passenger seat beside him. Gojyo and Goku had the back, and in between them was Amaunet, still sleeping, as though nothing had happened around her.

_She certainly redefines the meaning of "sleep like a log", _Hakkai thought amusedly as he turned away from the back to look ahead. "Where to, Sanzo?"

"West," Sanzo replied.

"Hai." With that, Hakkai started up the engine, and off they roared towards the sunset…towards the West.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, that was rather long, wasn't it ^_^? Hmm, I hope I didn't go TOO far with Sanzo hitting Ama on the head for laughing at him… I mean, after THAT insult he would've probably shot her, but instead of shooting her, he just whacked her on the head with his fan. And at least it was just ONE whack; Goku and Gojyo get loads more, I'm sure. And yes, I DO believe that Sanzo's outfit – with the veil and the crown and all that – makes him look like a Virgin Mary statue or a female saint ^_~. Sorry, that's what happens when you study in a Catholic school ^^;. As for Hakuryuu's healing powers…I'm not really sure if he CAN do that, but I guess he can, since Hakkai can heal, so why can't his pet, ne ^_^? Just small injuries for Hakuryuu though, nothing major; those are for Hakkai to deal with. 

THE RUKAWA KAEDE (THUS SLAM DUNK) CONNECTION: If you guys will recall the scene wherein Sanzo tries to shake Ama awake and only gets a vicious right hook in response, THAT is a characteristic typical to Rukawa Kaede, one of the characters in Takehiko Inoue's basketball manga/anime "Slam Dunk" (though I'm sure SD fans will have noticed that ^_~). Another thing that Ama and Rukawa share in common is the fact that they are narcoleptics – people who are all too fond of sleeping. However, Rukawa is narcolepsy to an extreme (the dude sleeps while biking his way to school, for crying out loud!); Ama is in a moderate (?) stage. Also, while Rukawa lashes out at anyone who dares to interrupt his naps, Ama is rather "selective", as can be told from the scene in the previous chapter: she didn't do anything to Goku, but was close to hitting Sanzo and knocking out a few of his teeth ^_^. 

THE PAIRING GAME: This is a new feature that I have cooked up specifically for this fic. Based on the previous chapter, who do you think will end up with Ama?

a.) Sanzo

b.) Goku

c.) Hakkai

d.) Hakuryuu (?!?!?!)

Leave your guesses in your review. I will poll them and post the results in the upcoming chapter. And for those who guess the end pairing right, I'll happily loan the Saiyuki bishounen of your choice to you guys for a few nights ^_~. Have fun kiddies ^_^!!!!


	4. Episode Three: Spider-women Suck BIG TIM...

Episode Three: Spider-women Suck BIG TIME 

Amaunet slowly drifted back to the real world, having drowned herself in blissful sleep. _Ah, that feels much better… _There were many reasons why she liked to sleep, and the rested feeling she got right after was one of them. Also, it usually served to keep her out of trouble.

Like the trouble that was brewing around her at that moment.

She didn't know what had gone on, but apparently Goku and the red-haired man were yelling at each other, hurling insults back and forth, back and forth.

"HORNY KAPPA!!!"

"BRAINLESS SARU!!!!"

"REDHAIRED TOAD!!!!!!"

And then a roar from the front: "SHUT UP!!!!"

WHAP, WHACK, BAM!!!!  
  


Amaunet blinked as she looked at Goku and his redheaded verbal sparring combatant, looking at the sizzling lumps that had sprouted in their heads. Sanzo, in the meantime, had hidden his Paper Fan of Doom in his robes. 

_O…kay… That was REALLY weird…_ Suddenly, she realized that she was in a moving vehicle. When she looked around, she realized that she was sitting in the back of a jeep. _A jeep…_

She turned to Sanzo then, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. "YOU BLOODY LIAR!!!!! You told me that there are no planes here in Togenkyo, and yet you guys are riding around in a bloody jeep!!!!"

Sanzo's reflection in the rearview mirror glared back at her. "It's true. There are no such things as 'planes' or whatever it is you call them here in Togenkyo."

"Then what in bloody hell are we doing riding in a jeep?! It should follow that if there is a jeep, then there SHOULD be airplanes, right?!?!?! I mean, the TECHNOLOGY exists…"

The man driving the jeep – the one with the white dragon – smiled at her then through the rearview mirror. "Gomen nasai, Amaunet-san, but you must be a little confused. This jeep isn't 'just' a jeep: it's Hakuryuu. You remember him, don't you?"

Amaunet's thoughts ground to a halt. _What?! This jeep we're riding was – is – the dragon?!?! _She just couldn't get around the fact that this JEEP was actually the chirping white dragon that had slept in her lap earlier.

The man chuckled, the light of the setting sun glinting off his monocle. "Hai, it would seem a little amazing, but it's true. And my name is Cho Hakkai, by the way."

Amaunet shoved all thoughts of dragon-equals-jeep-jeep-equals-dragon out of her mind for the time being, and managed to smile back at Hakkai. "A pleasure to meet you. You already said my name moments ago, so I guess that Goku and Sanzo mentioned me to you guys already."

"Hai," Hakkai answered with a nod. He glanced at the redhead in the back with her then. "Oh yes, and Amaunet-san, the redhead sitting beside you is Sha Gojyo."

Gojyo turned to her, and winked salaciously, a cigarette perched precariously on his lips. "Hey there babe."

Amaunet's eyes narrowed. _If there were one thing in the world I absolutely HATED, it would have to be THAT WORD when used to refer to me!!! _"Call me 'babe' again and I'll give you a swift kick to the groin," she growled, her voice laced with poison and edged with cold hard steel.

"Okay, okay! Jeez, relax will you! You're starting to act like Sanzo!" Gojyo exclaimed as he raised his hands protectively in front of him.

Fire flared in Amaunet's eyes. _Another thing I hate: being compared to Sanzo! _"Excuse me, but unlike some MONK I know, I have a social life. On the other hand, HE was probably closeted up for so long in that damn monastery that he lost all his capacity to deal with other people in a decent manner!"

Sanzo whirled around to face her then, and the power of his glare served to make both Gojyo and Goku back away from Amaunet. "If you're going to insult me, you might as well do it to my face."

Amaunet raised her eyebrow as she smirked at him. "Who said I was insulting YOU? I could've been talking about some other monk I know."

"YOU WERE TALKING AOBUT ME!!!!!" Sanzo bellowed.

"I didn't say 'monk in the front seat', did I?" She continued to smirk at Sanzo, enjoying watching the monk fume. "Ask Hakkai, ask Goku, hell, ask Gojyo! I just said 'monk'. It could've been any monk, and believe me when I say this, I've met LOTS." _Many of them a lot more good-natured than you, _she didn't add.

Hakkai laughed in an embarrassed manner. "Ah, she does have a point, Sanzo… She could have been talking about any other monk."

Sanzo continued to glare at her, and Amaunet met his gaze head-on. She could see his hand twitching, as if he intended to grab his gun and shoot her, but he didn't. Instead, he turned away, and straightened in his seat without another word.

Goku smirked. "Ama, one. Sanzo, zero!!!"

Just then, Hakkai spoke, perhaps as a way of averting any ensuing carnage. "Oi, look at that! There's the town right ahead!"

_Eh? _Amaunet looked up, and smiled when she saw the outlines of a town on the horizon. "YES!!! A town means warm food, a hot bath…and a soft bed."

"Food…must eat…" Goku muttered, his eyes staring dreamily at the shadows of the town as it loomed larger and larger up ahead, drooling all the while.

Gojyo nodded. "I have to agree with Ama on the soft bed part, but it won't be any fun if I didn't have a girl to share it with."

"That's it, I'm arranging for separate rooms," Sanzo stated. "I will not allow Amaunet to share a room with any of you, especially you, Gojyo."

Amaunet sighed, and shook her head. _Whatever, Sanzo. _As she stretched out her legs, however, she noticed a spot on her pant leg. A black MOVING spot. When she looked more closely, however, she realized that this moving spot had eight legs, and was slowly crawling up to her thigh.

"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" 

*   *   *

Goku rubbed his head as he entered the inn, trying to get rid of the ringing sound in his ears. _Kuso… I didn't know Ama could scream so loud…or at such a high pitch, at that…_

When she found the spider crawling up her leg, she had immediately let loose a loud, shrill shriek that did a lot of things. First, it nearly shattered his and Gojyo's eardrums, since they were sitting in the back with her and at a very close proximity to her. Second, she startled Sanzo so badly that he actually grabbed his gun and shot it at her, missing her head by a couple scant inches. Third, she made Hakkai step on the brakes with such suddenness that they were nearly thrown right out of the jeep. And fourth, Hakuryuu was also very much startled that he immediately transformed from his jeep mode into his dragon form, leaving them all lying on the hard ground. 

Goku sighed as he remembered what happened after…

~   ~   ~

Several veins were throbbing together in Sanzo's face. He glared down at Amaunet with such ferocity that he could've burned a hole right through her then. "You screamed because of a spider." 

Goku winced because there was a deadly quality to Sanzo's voice. The fact that it was spoken calmly made it even scarier.

Amaunet was blushing, but she met Sanzo's fiery purple gaze with her own. "Yeah…" She swallowed audibly, and said, "Look, I'm sorry I-"

"BAKA-ONNA!!!!!!" Sanzo yelled then, almost blowing away Gojyo, Goku and Amaunet with the force of his shout. "YOU SCREAMED BECAUSE OF ONE MEASLY SPIDER?!?!?!?! ARE YOU REALLY AS COWARDLY AS I THOUGHT YOU TO BE?!?!?!?! YOU'RE USELESS, COMPLETELY, UTTERLY USELESS!!!!!!!!!!"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!" Amaunet screamed back. She was breathing hard now, and moreover, there were tears streaming from her eyes. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!"

Goku felt his heart wrench because of the sight presented to him. _Ama…_ She was still sitting on the ground, and Sanzo was literally towering over her, glaring angrily.

Hakkai stepped forward. "Maa, maa Sanzo. She didn't do anything wrong. A lot of girls are afraid of spiders…"

Amaunet shook her head then as she stood up. "I wasn't supposed to be like all the rest of the girls," she stated, looking straight at Sanzo. "I was supposed to be strong and independent. But you want to know what happened to me? A tarantula – a spider the size of my palm and with enough poison to kill a normal man with one bite – bit me when I was a seven-year-old. I nearly DIED that day." She lowered her gaze then. "And that's why…that's why… I freak out whenever I see a spider of any size. It reminds me that I nearly died."

The entire area was quiet, and the only sounds that could be heard were their breathing and the rapid beating of their hearts. At last, Hakkai moved towards Amaunet. "Amaunet-san, please calm down…"

Amaunet said nothing, simply bent her head away from Sanzo and the rest of them. When Hakuryuu transformed into a jeep again, she climbed into the back seat without so much as another word. 

The rest of the trip to the town was spent without Amaunet speaking to any of them.

~   ~   ~

And that was what worried Goku right now. He wasn't used to seeing her sulk. He didn't LIKE seeing her sulk. When she ate, she just picked at her food and didn't look at them. When Hakkai tried to start a conversation with her, she only gave him deadpan answers and nothing more. When she had finished eating dinner, she immediately went upstairs to her room.

When she was gone, Gojyo turned to Sanzo. "Oi Sanzo, I think you really hurt her feelings this time."

"Hai!" Goku agreed. "Ama's not like that!!! You didn't have to yell at her like that you know!! She told you she nearly died because of a spider bite; I think that's understandable!!!"

Hakkai nodded. "I would have to agree with them for once, Sanzo. You hurt Amaunet-san's feelings."

Sanzo shrugged as he picked up the newspaper. "And what am I supposed do about it?"

"How about apologize?!" Goku demanded. "And I thought that you were smarter than that!!!"

"Why should I? It's not my fault she's scared of spiders and screamed the way she did."

Gojyo threw his hands up in the air. "He's hopeless!!!" He looked at the others. "One of us is going to have to apologize to her." He grinned. "I'll do it."

"No way!" Goku yelled as he glared at the redhead. "You're going to 'apologize' to her, alright…but in the totally wrong way!!!! I'd rather let Hakkai go to her than let YOU get anywhere NEAR her!!!!"

Hakkai smiled as he stood up. "Maa, maa Goku, Gojyo! I will go and apologize if you think I should be the one to do it, Goku." With that, he started heading towards the upstairs rooms, intent on finding Amaunet.

*   *   *

The noise in the restaurant downstairs died down to a mere irritating buzzing sound in the background, and Hakkai sighed in relief. _At least I can now think more clearly without all that noise to distract me._

He padded quietly down the hallway, making almost no noise as he did so. As he headed for Amaunet's room, he let his thoughts circle on this enigmatic young woman – and the effect she had on Goku.

_She certainly seems like a gaijin, _Hakkai mused. _After all, blue eyes and golden skin are not a very common combination, even amongst the youkai of Togenkyo…but Sanzo won't say anything about where she is from. He only said that she would be coming along to help us. _

But what was strange was the way Goku acted around her. It wasn't really the way a lovesick schoolboy would act (though there WERE hints of that too), but more of the way a brother would act around his sister. He was extremely protective of her, and seemed willing to face even the wrath of Sanzo if the monk even so much as dared to hurt her physically. Which was why Goku blew up at Sanzo earlier that day: the monk looked ready to kill Amaunet, and Goku sure as hell wouldn't stand for it.

Which led Hakkai to wonder: what was it about Amaunet that Goku found appealing? It certainly couldn't have been her physical attributes – Goku was too innocent for that – but it was perhaps the way she treated him. 

_Yes, perhaps that's it, _Hakkai thought. Sanzo didn't really treat Goku that well, and Gojyo was only out to torture the poor boy. Although both men cared quite a bit for Goku, they sure as hell had weird ways of showing it. Amaunet, on the other hand, treated Goku the way she would a favorite brother: with a lot of praise, smiles and laughter. 

He was in front of Amaunet's door then, and he knocked. "Amaunet-san?"

A soft rustling from inside, then: "Yes?"

"It's me, Hakkai. Could I come in and talk to you for a moment?"

Silence. "Just a minute." More rustling from inside, and Hakkai presumed that she was changing her clothes. When he thought of that, however, a small blush made its presence known on his face.

The door opened at that precise moment, and Hakkai found himself staring at Amaunet, dressed in a robe of blue cloth. He smiled at her. "Konbanwa, Amaunet-san. Could I speak to you for a moment?"

Amaunet nodded, and stepped back to let him come in. Hakkai did so, and waited until Amaunet had closed the door and turned to him. 

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Amaunet asked as she sat down on the bed, looking at him with her large, twinkling blue eyes.

"I wanted to apologize on Sanzo's behalf." Hakkai watched as Amaunet's eyes narrowed at the mention of Sanzo's name. Undeterred, he continued, "Amaunet-san, Sanzo has always had difficulty getting along with other people. It's rooted in his past. I cannot tell you the story because even I myself know so little about it, but all I know is that it was tragic. Because of that he has always tried to keep himself, shouldering all his burdens on his own. The result of which is his anti-sociability."

Amaunet was silent for a while, gazing at him. After a moment, she smirked. "I think I can understand that. I can understand why he's so uptight and high-strung. I can understand why he would be such a grump. But I don't think I can forgive him for calling me an idiot. I'm not an idiot, Hakkai, and if he's going to have to learn that the hard way then fine by me."

Hakkai tried to speak again. "Amaunet-san-" 

She smiled at him then, and shook her head. "Hakkai, lose the bloody formalities, okay? You're having a hard time pronouncing my full name, so you might as well spare yourself the trouble and just call me Ama. Got that?"

Hakkai paused right there and then, gazing at Amaunet for a long while. He had been caught completely off-guard by this. _Are people in her country really like this? She's so straightforward. _But that was something he could admire in people, and he liked it that he found it in her. He grinned, and nodded. "Hai, Ama."

Amaunet nodded approvingly. "Great. Now then, what were you going to tell me before I cut it?"

"I was going to thank you for something."

"Which would be?"

"The way you've been treating Goku."

Amaunet nodded. "Oh, that. Well, I just thought that Sanzo was too harsh on the poor boy. No one deserves to be called all the names that Goku gets from Sanzo, and so I just took it on myself to make sure that Goku gets the treatment he really deserves." She smiled. "It's fun, actually. It's like having a brother to take care of. I'm an only child, you see, so I guess I like spoiling Goku a little cause I don't have a brother of my own."

Hakkai nodded. "Hai. I see your point." He stood up then. "Well, I guess that I should be going for tonight. Oyasumi nasai, Ama."

Amaunet yawned, and stretched as she got into the bed. "Good night, Hakkai."

*   *   *

The night was still and silent. The inn had quieted down to a certain degree now that all the guests had retired to their beds. 

But that was not to be the case for very long, not with the Sanzo-ikkou staying in…

CRASH BAM!!!!

The door of Gojyo's room flew open at that moment, and with it went the body of the female demon that had tried to seduce him. Gojyo walked out of his room, huffing as he took a drag from the cigarette that was stuck between his lips. _That was so troublesome. Too bad she was after my neck. She was kinda pretty even if she was a youkai…_

BOOM CRASH!!!

Gojyo whirled to the source of the sound, and watched as the door to Hakkai's room flew wide open, and another demon came flying out to the room. After a few moments, Hakkai came walking out, the same smile still plastered on his face. "Ah, these youkai can be so rude sometimes!! And I was looking forward to some proper sleep tonight…"

CRASH WHAP!!!

This time it was Goku's door, and Hakkai and Gojyo rushed in to check. They found Goku still lying in bed, partially awake. 

Goku blinked up at them, his gold-colored eyes bleary with sleep. "Eh? What happened?"

Hakkai sweatdropped. "Kami-sama…he did that while he was asleep?"

Gojyo grinned slightly. "Looks like it." He walked up to Goku then. "Oi Saru, wake up, we've got trouble."

Goku opened his mouth in a jaw-breaking yawn, and muttered, "Naze, what's wrong?"

"We've been attacked by youkai," Hakkai answered quickly.

"So? Sanzo can take care of himself, and as for Ama-" Goku snapped wide-awake then. "Kami-sama, AMA!!! She's probably in trouble!!!"

_Kuso, _Gojyo thought as he and Goku sprinted out of the room. Hakkai had heard what they had been talking about as well, and he was already ahead of them in heading to Amaunet's room. There was just one slight problem: Amaunet's room was the most secluded of all the rooms, at the very end of the hall, and Gojyo feared that they wouldn't get to her in time.

Hakkai ground to a halt then, and so did Goku and Gojyo. They looked ahead, and Gojyo saw a sight that made the blood run cold in his veins.

A youkai was already opening the door to Amaunet's room, but they were still too far to reach her in time. Gojyo turned away, knowing that it would be all over in just a few seconds…

WHANG!!!!

THUMP!!!!

_Eh? What the hell happened? _Gojyo took a peek, and saw the youkai lying in the doorway, a HUGE bruise blooming on his forehead. 

Gojyo had to wince. _Ouch, now THAT'S got to HURT…_

There was muttering from inside the room, and it wasn't long till a rather disheveled-looking Amaunet walked out of the room, rubbing her eyes. "Sanzo, you bloody creep! It's still too early to leave!! It's still too dark out, for crying out loud!! You really ARE out to deprive me of my bloody precious sleep, aren't you?!"

Goku laughed in relief as he bounded over to Amaunet, hugging her around the waist. "Ama! You're safe!!"

Amaunet blinked as she pulled away from Goku. "Huh? What are you talking about? I thought that was Sanzo…"

Hakkai shook his head. "It wasn't Sanzo, Ama. You hit a demon that was trying to get into your room to kill you."

Amaunet blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Hakkai meant THAT," Gojyo said, pointing to the demon that was lying on the floor across the hall. "Pretty good aim, if I do say so myself. What did you do?"

Amaunet snickered. "Nothing much, really. I just set up a little intruder mechanism that would go off if I was still asleep." As she spoke, she pointed to the doorframe above her.

Gojyo glanced up, and sweatdropped. Amaunet had tacked a hammer to a strip of bamboo, which she then pulled back so that it reared over the doorframe inside her room. After positioning it, she tied it in such a way that whoever opened the door would get a hard whack to the noggin.

"That was supposed to be for Sanzo, if he so much as dared to wake me up," Amaunet explained then as she arranged the sleeves of her top. She was wearing a long-sleeved button-up shirt with a pair of loose pants for sleeping. 

Gojyo stared at her, a small smile curling on his face. Though the sleeping outfit that Amaunet wore was quite modest, he couldn't help imagine what the clothes hid underneath…

BANG!!!!

Gojyo snapped back to attention when he heard the gunshot. "Looks like Sanzo's in trouble too…"

Goku started down the hallway. "Well what are we doing standing here?! Let's go and see what's wrong!"

*   *   *

Amaunet watched as Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo headed towards Sanzo's room. _Should I follow them, or just stay the hell out of the way? _If she stayed put, there was a large possibility that one of those demons would come for her, and she wouldn't be able to defend against them. On the other hand, the idea of her coming to Sanzo's rescue made her want to retch, and she sure as hell didn't want to find out what kind of trouble he was in.

In the end, however, she decided to go over to Sanzo's room and see what was wrong. After all, the chances of her getting harmed while she was with the others were considerably lessened than if she stayed here alone. With this thought in mind, she quickly sprinted down the hall towards Sanzo's room. 

The door was open, and she stepped in as quietly as possible. _Don't want to draw attention to myself…_ She slunk along the walls, trying to stay in the deep shadows. She looked towards the center of the room, and noticed that there was a demon-woman standing there, holding an unconscious girl at her side. Amaunet's eyes widened when she recognized just WHO the girl was: the young waitress who had served them their dinner earlier that evening.

She felt her blood boil close to her surface at the sight. _Damn it!! I hate it when things like this happen… Why do these creeps always have to involve innocents?! _She hoped to God that the poor girl wouldn't get killed…

"AMA!!!!"

Amaunet snapped back to reality, and realized with sudden horror that the demon-woman was heading right for her. _Oh shit…_

The demon-woman cackled as she held out her hand, intent on grabbing Amaunet by the throat. "Well then, if I can't have that other girl for dinner, maybe THIS one will do!!!"

Amaunet turned away, closing her eyes tight. She waited for the pain to come, she waited for the sound of her bones cracking as the demon-woman broke her bones with her bare hands…

A sudden force from the side toppled her, sending her to the floor. A pair of arms gripped her tightly, and held her against a warm body. That body rolled over so that it took most of the fall when they hit the floor, and in moments stood up again, placing her on her own two feet.

_What the hell? _Amaunet looked up at the person who had rescued her, and was stunned to find Hakkai standing with her, his gaze serious. "Ha-Hakkai?"

Hakkai glanced down at her, and a small smile appeared on his face. "You had best take care, Ama. She will do anything to kill us…even you."

"What have I got to do with anything?!" Amaunet hissed. "I didn't do anything to her!!"

Hakkai's face became serious all of a sudden. "Those youkai…the ones that attacked us, including that woman…are all assassins sent to kill us. I don't know why they would want you, but I believe that they received orders to kill all of those who traveled with Sanzo. Unfortunately, you are one of those people."

Amaunet cursed. "Bloody hell… I KNEW I shouldn't have let Sanzo force me into coming with you guys… Damn it, but I could have just gone to those ruins by myself!"

Hakkai seemed about to ask her something, but then he whispered a curse, and pushed her face against his shoulder. "Don't look Ama…don't look…"

_Bloody hell I won't, _Amaunet thought as she wrenched her head away from Hakkai's grasp, looking towards the demon-woman. And watched as she metamorphosed into a huge, ugly spider.

Seeing a small spider was bad enough, but to see one which was probably as big as two elephants combined was worse, much, much worse. Amaunet's arachnophobia kicked in, and in the worst possible way: her mind suddenly became blank, and all she could do was stare. There were no thoughts in her head at all. She had become an immobile statue.

She couldn't remember what happened after that. All she could really, really remember was a bright light emitting from Sanzo, and then Goku going in for the kill, during which Hakkai forced her down onto the floor to avoid the massive wave of energy that emerged from the spider demon when Goku finished it off.

At long last, the noise and the banging died down, and Amaunet felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up slowly, and saw Goku's face grinning down at her. "Is it over?"

Goku nodded. "Hai! No more ugly spider-woman to make trouble for us anymore!"

Amaunet sighed, and rolled over onto her back, breathing deeply. _Well at least I can get some decent sleep now… _With that thought in mind, she shut her eyes, and mumbled, "If anyone tries to wake me up, then there's going to be hell to pay. And I mean it." And with that, she fell asleep as though nothing had happened.

*   *   *

Sanzo set aside his gun, approaching the prone figure of Amaunet on the floor. "Please tell me she's dead."

Hakkai smiled as he picked up the sleeping girl. "I'm afraid not, Sanzo."

The sleeping Amaunet took a deep breath, and then seemed to mumble, "Idiot monk…now I know why they say blondes are stupid…"

Sanzo fumed. _Kuso, does that girl ever stop?! Even in her sleep she throws back insults!!! _He wanted to just strangle her, but he couldn't, he simply couldn't. _Not while she might have some use to us…not that I know what it will be, though, and when. _

He turned away from Hakkai then, and glanced outside. The sun was starting to peep over the horizon, and he knew that they had to leave, and soon. They didn't have a lot of time to spare, and they still had a bunch of mountains to cross. He walked towards the door. "Let's go. We have to leave now if we want to get through the mountains by tomorrow."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Eh, did I cut it off too soon? I didn't know how else I would end this, so I just decided to close it in Sanzo's POV. Heheh, Amaunet sleep-talks, but wow, even in her sleep she shows Sanzo just how much she hates him ^_^. And…poor Ama! Afraid of spiders, is she? Well I DID say she wasn't perfect, didn't I? Or at least, I'm TRYING not to make her too perfect. That's why she can't fight (yet), has a temper with the predictability of the weather, is inflicted with narcolepsy, and is the only smart aleck who has the guts to challenge Sanzo ^_^. This is the start of World War III…

THE PAIRING GAME: Okay, I have gathered the results of the previous Pairing Game, and here it is:

Sanzo: 2

Hakkai: 1

Goku: 2

Hakuryuu: 0 (thank God…)

Now, just to remind you people, the results of the Pairing Game will NOT change the pairing I have in mind in any way. I just want to tease the readers and make them guess all they want to so that when the REAL pairing comes out towards the end, they can either rejoice and say, "I knew it!" or sulk and say, "Damn, and I was SO close!". Anyway, here's the new selection for this episode:

a.) Sanzo

b.) Hakkai

c.) Goku

d.) Gojyo

Once again, leave your choices in your review, and I will count them and reveal the results in the next episode. Good luck everyone ^_^!!!


	5. Episode Four: Cross Dressing is Hard to ...

Episode Four: Cross-Dressing is Hard to Do… 

Amaunet slowly drifted back to consciousness from the depths of sleep, roused by the rumbling of the jeep beneath her and the bickering that was going on just above her head. Like she expected, it was Goku and Gojyo at it again, with Sanzo joining in by threatening them with either his gun or his Paper Fan of Doom.

She yawned, and stretched, sitting up slowly so as to avoid the swing of Sanzo's fan as it struck Gojyo and Goku into silence. "Morning, everyone."

Hakkai smiled at her from the driver's seat. "Actually, good afternoon."

_Eh? _Amaunet glanced up at the sky, and noticed that, indeed, it was already afternoon. The sun was starting to dip lower beyond the horizon, and it painted the sky in crimson and gold. "Oh yeah, you're right." She was about to say something more, but then, her stomach grumbled at being deprived of nourishment for so long.

Gojyo burst out laughing then. "Looks like Goku isn't the only one hungry."

Amaunet blushed, and patted her stomach. "Well, I HAVE been asleep since early this morning…I guess you can understand why I'm hungry right now…"

"Iie, I was just teasing you," Gojyo said, winking. "At least you don't eat as much as the saru. And you don't complain every ten minutes or so."

Amaunet's stomach rumbled again, and in response, Sanzo threw a package into her lap. Amaunet unwrapped it, and found two bread buns inside. She glanced at Sanzo, and smirked. "And what's up with this? You trying to poison me or something?"

"If you don't want to eat it then that's fine with me. You can starve to death for all I care," Sanzo answered without glancing back, though through the rearview mirror Amaunet could see he was looking annoyed.

Amaunet smirked, and shook her head. _I just LOVE it when he gets mad. _In any case, she knew that the buns weren't poisoned, so she ate them. She took them in slowly, so that they would fill her up more and she wouldn't get a bad case of indigestion later on. They were a little chewy, but had a sweet red bean filling, and that took her mind off the toughness of the bread. 

Goku turned to her, his eyes all shining and hopeful. "Ama, could I please have the other one? Please, please, please, please???"

Sanzo glared at him through the rearview mirror. "Shut up with your complaining, saru. You're always hungry."

Amaunet shrugged in response, ignoring Sanzo's comments. "Here ya go." She picked up one bread bun, and handed it to Goku. She grinned. "Enjoy!"

Goku grinned as he accepted the item of food. "Sank yuu, Ama!" And then, he scarfed down the whole thing with nary a pause for breath.

Amaunet sighed, and rolled her eyes. _I wonder sometimes if Goku's stomach has worms in it or something, that's why he's always hungry and never gains weight. _She had just finished eating her bun when Hakkai stopped the jeep. He glanced at them, and announced, "The ground here is too rocky for Hakuryuu to pass through. We have to walk from here."

Amaunet shrugged, and jumped out of the back seat. She didn't really mind walking through rocky terrain, and she knew that if she really had to, she could scale a rock face without too much trouble. Fortunately, there was a clear path that wended its way between the crags, and that meant her rock-climbing skills would be saved for another day.

In the meantime, she watched as the jeep disappeared in a puff of smoke and light, and reappeared as the white dragon, Hakuryuu. After this happened, she joined the four guys in a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would carry the bags. Unfortunately for Goku, he threw a scissors against the rock that they played, and that meant he had to carry the bags. Feeling a little bit of pity for him, Amaunet walked over to their pile of luggage, singled out her backpack, and slipped it on.

Goku stared at her as she adjusted the straps of her backpack, securing it on her shoulders. "Ama, aren't you going to let me carry your bag?"

"No, I won't. You have enough to carry already as it is." Amaunet grinned at him as they set off with the others. "And besides, I'm used to carrying my own pack up and down mountains. God knows how many times I've done that with my father."

Hakkai glanced at them over his shoulder. "And why would that be, Ama?"

Amaunet sighed, nostalgia filling her tone and her eyes as she spoke. "My father is an archaeologist, someone who digs up old tombs and lost cities and looks for artifacts that point out to the existence of ancient civilizations."

"Something like a treasure hunter, then?" Gojyo queried.

"You could say that," Amaunet replied with a nod, "though finding gold and jewels isn't really all he does. He digs up these places to fill in the missing pages of history and lore. It's a pretty noble profession, really, and very hard physically, mentally and emotionally. 

"Ever since I was strong enough to walk on my own, Dad was always taking me with him on his trips. Of course, Mum didn't always approve, but then again she came with us anyway, so she didn't have a lot of reason to complain. Always, on those trips, I was urged to do things independently, and that included carrying my own things, even if we had to hike up a mountain. I learned early on that I couldn't always rely on my parents, so I sort of conditioned myself mentally and emotionally to be independent."

"But wasn't it hard on you, moving around all the time like that," Goku piped up.

Amaunet nodded as she clambered over a dead tree that was blocking their path. "Yeah, it was a little hard on me, especially when I was growing up. We were always moving from place-to-place, and we didn't stay in one place long enough for me to make friends who were the same age as I was. All my friends were always 'big people', as I called them when I was a little girl: those who were in their late teens to mid-twenties. I never had a permanent group of friends. 

"It wasn't that my parents were bad parents; far from it, actually. They took very good care of me and made sure that I was never lonely, in spite of the fact that I didn't a permanent circle of friends. I had a very happy childhood. Dad was always there for me, and so was Mum. I didn't lack in their love and their care." 

She laughed then. "I guess they spoiled me a little bit in their own way. They were always buying stuff for me, like little trinkets and toys from wherever it was we were staying at the time. We might have slept in a tent all the time, but hell, I had lots of toys to keep me busy at the end of the day. And I always had books to read, which I liked the best.

"It was only recently, when I was thirteen, that we finally settled down in Cairo, a city in Egypt. Most of Dad's projects wouldn't last very long in one place, but then he got an assignment that would take quite a long while. It's taken him three years and it was only recently that he got anywhere near to progress. 

"So I hung around in Cairo, in Egypt, which is Mum's birthplace, by the way, and I FINALLY got a permanent group of friends, went to a decent school, and actually worked with Mum in the museum as a decoder. After this most recent project, Dad thinks that he'll give up working on the field and go back to London, in England, far up north, to live quietly." 

Hakkai chuckled. "But won't that be boring for you? You've been used to living with so much adventure in your life, and then you're going to give it up for a quiet life in a city?"

"Are you kidding?!" Amaunet exclaimed teasingly. "There's nothing quiet about living in London! Not in London, of all cities!! There's so much to see, so much to do… Exploring the museums alone is bloody adventure enough! Then there are the royal palaces, the opera houses, the markets, and the nightlife… Nope, I don't think living in London will be boring."

They continued the rest of the journey in a pretty upbeat manner. Sanzo was ignored, which seemed to be what he wanted, while she, Hakkai, Goku and Gojyo exchanged friendly banter. Amaunet told them about her childhood and all the things her father did, how he had started out as the scion of an extremely rich and titled family in London, how he had gotten sick and tired of the routine followed by the nobility, and just up and left in search of adventure. That only resulted in making him even richer, especially after he made his archaeological discoveries.

While Amaunet was in the middle of telling them about his finding a whole load of treasure in Spain and solving the mystery of the Torre de las Infantas (Tower of the Princesses) in Granada, Sanzo cut in by saying, "Looks like we're going to have to stay there for the night."

_Eh? _Amaunet looked up, and saw a Buddhist temple standing right in front of her.

Goku grinned as he patted his stomach. "It's about time! Carrying all these bags has made me hungry."

Sanzo smirked then. "Amaunet won't be able to go in."

Gojyo looked up. "Nani? Naze?"

"Buddhist temples don't allow women to come in," Hakkai explained quietly. He sighed, and looked at Amaunet with an embarrassed smile. "This is going to present some problems…"

_Won't let women in, eh? _Amaunet grinned, and she shrugged. "Not a problem. Though it really bites me that these rules are so bloody chauvinistic, there are OTHER ways of getting in."

"Demo Ama, you won't be able to get in. I mean, you're a girl through and through," Goku said.

Amaunet grinned evilly. "Who said I had to walk in there looking like one?"

The four males stared at her in silence. In the end, it was Hakkai who got the idea. "You…you would…"

"That's right. If I can't get in that temple by being a girl, then I'll just have to hide the fact that I am one." She gave her outfit a quick look. _Bush hat, pants, shirt, backpack, and boots…yeah, this'll work. _She turned away from the guys, and headed over to a cluster of rocks that would conceal her while she did what she had to do.

"Amaunet!" Sanzo called. "Do you seriously think that you can get away with what you're going to do?!"  
  


"You want to try me, Sanzo?! Then shut the bloody hell up and let me go through with this!" Amaunet yelled back. "Oh yeah, and if any of you guys comes round here while I'm dressing up I'd be more than happy to kick your sorry arses to the moon!"

With that final warning, Amaunet proceeded to change.

*   *   *

Sanzo sighed, watching as the monks guarding the walls clambered down from their posts to open the gates. _Looks like we've found a decent place to stay._

He had told the guards that he actually had four companions with him, and that he had to fetch the other one, who was still sleeping from the long, hard trip. With that, he went over to the rocks where Amaunet was changing. "Amaunet, are you finished?"

Silence for a moment, and then, "Yeah, almost. Half a moment, okay?"

Sanzo waited a little impatiently on the other side, while Amaunet quickly put her clothes back on. _So it's true, _he thought smugly to himself. _Women really do take a long time to get ready._

"So, what do you think?"

Sanzo turned, and his eyes widened a fraction of an inch in surprise – which is really a lot already, considering that he is a little hard to startle. _Kami-sama…what HAPPENED to her?! _

Amaunet seemed to have completely metamorphosed. She still wore the same clothes, but as for the rest of her, it was different. Though her chest wasn't as voluptuous as those of other women, there was no denying the fact that it could still be discerned even with her clearly masculine clothes. Not anymore. Her chest seemed totally flat from the front, and from the side, well, what little swell there was could be easily mistaken for a fold in the clothes. Her long hair she had pulled back into a tight braid, and this, combined with the jaunty angle of her hat, now served to make her look even more like a boy. 

"Not bad, eh?" she asked, and Sanzo had to blink at the new timbre and tone her voice had taken. _She sounds a little like Hakkai, though maybe with a little bit of leaning to Goku's voice. It doesn't sound like Amaunet at all. _To cover up his surprise, he smirked again, and said, "About time you woke up…Ama."

Amaunet smirked back at him. "Whatever you say, Sanzo." She walked beside him towards where the others were waiting for them.

The first one to notice was Goku. He turned around to greet Amaunet, but then his greeting fell short when he noticed her sudden change. His gold eyes widened to the size of teacups. "A-Ama?"

"Yo Goku." Amaunet walked up beside him, and muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "Pretend like I've always been like this, okay guys? No need to make the monks suspicious."

Gojyo was the first to play along. "Oi, Ama-kun, about time you woke up! You're always sleeping, you know that?!"

Amaunet laughed, and to Sanzo, even her laughter sounded masculine. "I'm always tired. Big deal. You and Goku fighting all the time wear me out. I need my sleep where the two of your are concerned."

Hakkai sighed, and shrugged. "Well, I guess that solves our problems. Come on, let's go inside before the monks get a different idea and decide not to let us in at all."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, that's IT!!! I'm forced to cut this in the middle of the chapter. This is supposed to be a longer chapter, but I'd rather cut in the middle than make it too long. I think that this is rather…useless, one of those things you put in just to tell everyone what happened in the middle. Then again, the fact that I put in a little bit of Ama's past should make it interesting enough ^^;

THE PAIRING GAME: Sorry people, I've given up on counting the votes, and ff.net has a ruling that it will pull out all stories that have THAT sort of thing, so…yeah. Still, if you want to keep on guessing, be my guest ^_^. And the prize still stands too; the only thing different is that it won't be so "official" anymore. As of last count, the list is, in order of the one with most votes:

a.) Sanzo

b.) Hakkai

c.) Goku

d.) Gojyo

So there! I'll stop counting votes, but I'll say who's in the lead okay? Till the next chapter, people!


End file.
